Keep it quiet; Pilkington Optiphon™ awarded the Quiet Mark

Pilkington Optiphon™ has been granted the seal of approval by Quiet Mark the international mark of approval from the Noise Abatement Society Charitable Foundation.

Launched in 2012, Quiet Mark supports technological innovation for quieter products and awards a stamp of approval to products or schemes that minimise noise. Products that have been awarded the purple Q stamp of approval include kettles, blenders, hairdryers and washing machines, hotels, silent musical instruments and now glazing.

Following a request from the Managing Director of Quiet Mark, Poppy Elliott, Pilkington Optiphon™ featured in The Quiet House designed to introduce the Quiet Mark scheme and showcase the award winning products at the Ideal Home Show this year. The Quiet House was developed to help consumers understand the importance of choosing carefully the appliances they buy and share their homes with, empowering the UK to re-tune the sounds around them and de-stress their personal space. Visitors could hear for themselves the difference in noise levels for all the products involved.

Pilkington Optiphon™ laminated glass is the ideal solution for reducing noise levels in buildings. Using a special PVB (PolyVinyl Butyral) interlayer, Pilkington Optiphon™ is a high quality acoustic laminated glass that offers excellent noise reduction without compromising on light transmittance or impact performance. The desired acoustic specification can be achieved by combining various thicknesses of glass with the PVB interlayer.

Andy McDowell, Commercial Director, Pilkington United Kingdom Limited, said: “Quiet Mark research has shown that in the UK we are surrounded by a cacophony of sound and feel unable to control this pollution, and in 2011 The World Health Organisation found that in Western Europe excessive noise was second only to air pollution as a cause of environmental ill-health. The rapid increase in road and air traffic, the development of urban motorways and noise from railways, factories, discos and neighbours can be inconvenient and upsetting. Glazing such as Pilkington Optiphon™ can play an important part in dealing with noise and it can also provide privacy in internal applications.”

Poppy Elliott comments: “Pilkington Optiphon™ is a worthy recipient of the Quiet Mark, and the glazing’s sound proofing capabilities were more than proven at the Ideal Home Show this year. Many visitors to the Quiet House remarked how substantially different the noise levels were inside the house in comparison to the noisy show outside, as Pilkington Optiphon™ cocooned the Quiet House in a serene floor to ceiling glazed environment.”

Pilkington Optiphon™ can be combined with other products manufactured within the NSG Group facilities in the UK, to provide a multi-functional noise-reduction monolithic glass or an Insulating Glass Unit (IGU) with additional benefits such as increased security, thermal insulation, solar control self-cleaning.